“It really is fast.”
“A maglev train can easily hit eight hundred kilometers per hour!”
“I wish my Titan could go that fast too.”
“Wouldn’t that be a bit much?”
The speed of sound is roughly 1,225 kilometers per hour.
I don’t know how long it took humanity to first break the sound barrier, or how much engineering went into achieving it.
But as long as Eily maintains the Titan’s current form, breaking the sound barrier is difficult.
Even now, with instantaneous acceleration, the maximum speed is five hundred kilometers per hour.
This kind of acceleration is impossible in combat, but compared to other Titans, the top speed is already one and a half times faster.
I should be satisfied with just that.
Anything faster would require Eily to become variable like a fighter jet or sports car.
“This time, Ian didn’t hide anything, right?”
“Hm? Like what?”
“Something like a transformable function.”
“What! That’s hilarious. There’s no way he’d do that!”
Ian is the type who would never add something like an Armor Purge for an engineer’s convenience, either.
There’s no way there’s a transformable function.
“Right, as I thought.”
The maglev train gradually decelerated.
The guide professor was Professor Flavia.
I hadn’t realized when we went to the Western Front, but apparently the guide professor is someone related to that front.
How reasonable, befitting Bethesda Academy.
Revan, Karina, Lucia.
I see a few familiar faces.
When the train stopped, Professor Flavia stood up and guided the cadets.
A truly unpleasant and eyesore of a human, but when dealing with nobles, she was every bit the professor.
“Cadet Deep.”
And this time, she was somewhat cordial to me as well.
“Let us go.”
Following Professor Flavia’s guidance, I went outside.
“Uwaa—ugh.”
Déjà vu. Ever felt it?
I’m pretty sure I covered Eily’s speaker exactly like this when we went to the Western Front too.
When I raised my head, Karina was glaring this way.
It was the expression of a private who had been called to the company commander’s office and chewed out despite having done nothing wrong.
Or it was the expression of someone who would kill me if I was rude.
There was no need to distinguish which.
I had no intention of being rude in the first place.
I had heard the North was uniquely aristocratic compared to other regions.
There was nothing good about standing out.
Setting that aside, the scenery was insane.
I had seen the ocean a few times in my previous world.
But I had never seen snowy mountains like this.
No, wait, I had seen them when I was in the army.
Anyway, it was truly a majestic sight.
The entire mountain range was pure white, with incredibly tall rocky peaks jutting up here and there.
It was almost ominous.
I felt a genetic-level aversion to the snowy mountains.
Maybe because I still vividly remembered shoveling snow in the army.
“Attention.”
At Professor Flavia’s words, I immediately turned my gaze forward.
The atmosphere was different from the cadets who had gone to the Western Front.
They did not let their eyes wander to the scenery; they were already perfectly aligned and disciplined.
It was not an act; it was simply behavior ingrained in their bodies.
Should I call it dignity?
The person standing before the professor in military uniform was clearly someone of importance.
Black hair and red eyes.
The head of House Dis Pater—if I recalled correctly, Pluto von Dis Pater.
Standing beside him like an aide was someone I had seen before.
Silver-blue hair and navy eyes.
Count Luna.
“Cadets, salute the front commander.”
“Loyalty!”
“Loyalty.”
“Face front.”
*Chak.*
Within an inexplicable military discipline, I found myself snapping into posture without realizing it.
Duke Dis Pater exchanged a few words in a low voice with Count Luna beside him, then stepped down from the podium as if he had finished his business.
Count Luna, now alone, raised his head.
“I am called Mani Luna. As this is not a place for my personal introduction, I shall save such private matters for when time permits.”
Someone raised their hand to ask a question but immediately lowered it.
“I am assisting with the command and supervision of the Northern Front. The greatest characteristic of the Northern Front is the tundra. It is a rugged land covered in snow.”
No one said a word.
It was not to preserve etiquette.
Pressure.
Intimidation.
The damp, humid, cold air I had felt at the hospital where Karina had been admitted.
“Cadets will follow the guide to the dormitory and wait in your respective rooms. When called, come to the aide’s office for your interview. That is all.”
It was the air of the North.
***
I was waiting in front of the aide’s office.
The door opened, and Karina came out.
It was not the face of someone who had just met her father.
Even though I do not have a father, I know what someone looks like after meeting their parents.
That was the expression of a private who had been called into the company commander’s office and chewed out despite having done nothing wrong.
“What are you doing? Go in.”
“Ah, yes.”
Count Luna’s aide office was lavish.
I had not seen any wooden furniture since coming here, but everything in the aide’s office was made of wood.
Various medals and decorations hung everywhere.
Ornaments and luxury items were placed about as if they were natural, and there were even potted plants.
Count Luna extended his hand toward a chair.
He smiled a kind smile.
A good person does not smile a kind smile.
I am not an idiot.
“Was the trip alright? That maglev train was modified with Luna household technology.”
“It was more comfortable than when I went to the Western Front.”
Count Luna’s expression shifted subtly.
“You’ve stopped stuttering.”
“Yes. It happened suddenly.”
“Military discipline has entered your speech as well. That is good. It is always a good thing to see a young man develop.”
I sat in the chair.
The Count’s gaze was strangely stinging.
“You must have many questions regarding House Luna. For example, about the past of the Titan you use.”
I bit down.
Fortunately, I held it in this time without letting it show.
I looked at Count Luna while composing my expression as much as possible.
I had not expected him to bring it up first.
I had assumed some information had gotten through via Karina.
No, perhaps while I was at the academy, he had extracted plenty of information about Eily and figured everything out about me.
So he knew and simply let it be.
“I do not think it matters whether I know or not.”
That was the truth.
Eily is ultimately a Titan, an artificial intelligence.
Even if she is a secondhand Titan, Eily has no memories of before.
Is a person who has lost all past memories and is building new ones the same person as before?
I do not think so.
In a way, Eily died and was reborn anew to live with me.
Just as, no matter what happened to the original owner of this body, now I have been reborn as the person called me.
“How steadfast. If possible, I had intended to tell you when there was time to spare during operations.”
“Without any conditions?”
“It means it is not something that requires conditions.”
Count Luna leaned forward.
“You are a young man receiving attention from numerous nobles, generals, and commanders. I have great interest in your data.”
“If by data, you mean the data stored in the core…”
“Precisely.”
Every core has an artificial intelligence built in.
Therefore, naturally, every core stores the pilot’s control data and reconfigures its behavior based on that.
The reason Eily and I have grown more in sync over time is also because of that.
“To put it more honestly, I wish to replace the AI installed in your Titan with the latest model and acquire that AI for our side.”
“I must refuse.”
Mani Luna revealed an expression for the first time.
And before that expression could fully show itself, he reined it in.
“That was a quick answer.”
“Yes.”
Because there was no need to hesitate.
As if reading my expression, Count Luna stroked his chin and shook his head.
“I heard you became the second seat.”
“Yes.”
“Then you must have also heard from Revan about the next-generation AI and the awakening agent.”
Next-generation AI and awakening agent.
The former was probably what Karina had mentioned about the personality-minimized AI.
The latter seemed to be the awakening agent Revan had used.
“I have heard a little.”
“With your potential, you could rise to much greater heights through those two things.”
Perhaps so.
According to Karina, by overclocking an AI with its personality suppressed as much as possible, one could forcibly induce a high-sync state.
Since it would not have a strong personality like Eily, perfect rational calculation and inference would be possible.
“And yet you will not accept this offer?”
He was moderate.
Compared to the force he hid beneath the surface without revealing it, those words were moderate.
When this conversation first began, I had resolved myself to desert if necessary, so I was relieved the Count was reasonable.
“I apologize.”
I cannot accept it.
“Why?”
There are many reasons.
Because I like Eily.
Because I cannot imagine life without her now.
Because I want to keep living with Eily at the academy.
Because I have finally grown accustomed to Eily greeting me when I reach the dormitory.
Even if I stripped away every AI-geek or machine-geek remark one by one, fortunately one answer remains.
“As you said, if I used the latest AI and an awakening agent, I could certainly aim for the top seat.”
“Indeed, young man. That is true.”
“But.”
There is victory before honor.
It is a phrase I like, but there is always a minimum line to it.
“That would mean the AI is the strong one, would it not?”
I have to win with my own skill.
If I were going to win by AI difference, I would have used hacks back during Titan Core too.
In the first place, even during Titan Core, I went around beating users who used hacks with pure skill.
If Revan uses an AI and awakening agent like that, it would actually spark my stubbornness and make me not want to use them.
More than that.
“If the AI is that outstanding in the first place, would it not be better to simply put two AIs in a Titan and run it unmanned?”
At my words, Count Luna’s expression stiffened slightly.
“That is precisely why I need your data.”
“Ah.”
Ah, I see.
Then that makes me feel even worse.
As if understanding my expression, Count Luna shook his head.
Then he turned the hologram toward me.
“This time, we are planning a defensive operation. We have intel that a Northern Coalition raid is scheduled during this dispatch period.”
He changed the subject.
Having been refused, he seemed to judge that further discussion was meaningless.
Which was true enough.
“A defensive operation?”
That is strange.
During the last vacation dispatch, I had heard that the Northern dispatch operation including Revan had launched a surprise attack on the Liberation Army, inflicting heavy damage.
How do they have the leisure to conduct a raid operation?
“It is not because we have the leisure to launch a raid.”
An answer came even though I had not asked.
“We view this raid as a sort of final struggle. A last bastion before their combat strength is exhausted.”
*Beep.*
Alex and Eily appeared simultaneously on the hologram.
“The core of this operation will be the buddy team of the top seat and second seat.”
Buddy with Revan.
Wow, I really do not want to.
“Understood.”
If they tell me to do it, I have to do it.
There was no choice.